Christie Podiums Twice at Canadian Superbike Opener

June 10, 2014 — The Accelerated Technologies Honda Team started the season off strong at the first round of the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship at Shannonville Motorsports Park this past weekend, with Jodi Christie finishing second in both the Hindle Pro Sport Bike and Mopar Pro Superbike races.
After a strong showing at a regional event at Shannonville the weekend prior to the CSBK round, Jodi used Friday’s test sessions to try new suspension settings on both the CBR600RR and CBR1000RR machines. Right off the hop Jodi felt very comfortable on both bikes and set quick laps throughout the day. The team continued to improve the bikes for each practice session, and Jodi posted the quickest times in the final practice sessions for both classes before qualifying. In Saturday afternoon's Pro Sport Bike qualifying session Jodi posted a 1:05.959 lap time to miss out on the top spot by just six thousandths of a second! In the Superbike qualifying session later that afternoon Jodi set a time of 1:04.307 to place himself in second on the grid for Sunday’s feature race.
Sunday morning was another great opportunity for Jodi to confirm with the team that he was happy with the handling of his Accelerated Technologies Hondas, and on well used tires he was able to top the morning practice sessions in both classes.
The first race of the afternoon was the Hindle Pro Sport Bike final. Jodi, the three-time and defending champion in the class, got a tremendous launch to lead the race in the early laps. The race shaped up to become very strategic between Jodi and Kenny Riedmann, and the pace slowed down because neither rider really wanted to be leading. After about five laps Riedmann made a pass on Jodi to take over the lead, and the race order remained the same until the last lap. With Kenny blocking thoroughly, Jodi tried to make the pass on the outside into the penultimate corner. When that proved unsuccessful, Jodi tried to squeeze past Riedmann on the inside of the last corner but there was no room and he had to settle for second place.
The Mopar Pro Superbike race was up next, and Jodi and the team knew they had a great chance of finishing on the podium and a shot at the win. Jodi got a good launch from the front row and slotted into 3rd on the opening lap, and on lap 2 Jodi drafted past Frank Trombino on the back straight to move into 2nd position. It was then Jodi running behind pole-sitter Jordan Szoke for the remaining laps of the race, sitting, stalking and planning his move for the last laps. As Jodi crossed the stripe for the last lap he kept the gap close to Jordan and made his pass into the hairpin leading onto the back straight. Unfortunately
Jodi pushed the front end over a bump on the entrance, drifting wide at the apex by a few feet and allowing Szoke to square up the corner behind him, and as they drove down the straight Szoke was able to make the pass with straight-line speed. Jodi tried to make another move into the last corner, but once again finished in 2nd position.
Jodi Christie: “Finishing 2nd on the CBR600RR at the opening round is a good start to our championship campaign. The bike’s handling was amazing, it was so easy to ride the entire race! In Superbike, I tried everything I could on the last lap to get by Jordan. I had a plan and stuck to it, but with the moment I had into the hairpin I ran a little wide. I know I had the bike to win today, My CBR1000RR handled like a dream the entire race and the Dunlops hooked up great! I have to thank my team for all of their hard work, John Sharrard and Andrew Trevitt put their minds together to come up with great setups for the bikes, Wes Lake and Peter Trevitt worked like crazy to provide me with a safe bike to ride on. I am hungry for race wins, and these close seconds have made me want the wins even more than I already do! We are going to keep coming strong and I know we will be fast at the next round at St-Eustache in four weeks.”
John Sharrard (crew chief): “Jodi rode great all weekend, and went faster every time out with almost every change we made. The transition to Dunlop as the spec tire for the series was a bit of a challenge, but Jodi got comfortable on them pretty quickly and we didn’t have to make drastic changes to either bike. The firmer carcass of the Dunlop tire suits Jodi’s riding style well and allows him to brake harder and enter corners harder than ever before. The frame and geometry of the Honda CBR600RR hasn’t changed significantly in seven years, and we are very familiar with it. So with the Dunlops, it’s mostly a matter of optimizing the 600 for the track and conditions, but on the CBR1000RR we were experimenting with some new suspension parts to great effect. Our engines are limited somewhat with our reduced budget in 2014, but we are doing our best to optimize the chassis to get the faster lap times. Jodi was happy with the setup on both bikes, especially over race distance. Of course we are disappointed not to win, but it’s a great start to the year in both classes and we will take what we learned here to St-Eustache and do our best to win the double there!”
Results – Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship, Round 1, Shannonville Motorsports Park, Shannonville, ON
Hindle Exhaust Pro Sport Bike
1. Kenny Riedmann (Triumph)
2. Jodi Christie (Honda)
3. Will Hornblower (Yamaha)
4. Elie Daccache (Yamaha)
5. Darren James (Yamaha)
Mopar Pro Superbike Feature
1. Jordan Szoke (BMW)
2. Jodi Christie (Honda)
3. Trevor Daley (Suzuki)
4. Frank Trombino (Aprilia)
5. Sebastien Tremblay (Kawasaki)
You can watch the Pro Superbike Race here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LacBWCx5WU#t=71
Jodi Christie Racing competes in the Mopar Canadian Superbike Championship with support from Accelerated Technologies, Motovan, Hindle Exhaust, Bazzaz, Dunlop, Aim Sports Data Acquisition, DID Chains, Orient Express, Blue Streak Racing, Motion Pro, Elka Suspension, Motul Oil, Renthal, Sunstar, Joe Rocket Leathers, Shoei Helmets, Mikey Moto, Zero Gravity, Bickle Racing, Gary & Roslyn Christie and Pro 6 Cycle. The next round of the CSBK series takes place at Autodrome St-Eustache in St-Eustache, QC, on July 4-6. Follow the team on Facebook (JodiChristieRacing) or Twitter (@JCRacing20). For more information about the Canadian Superbike Series and to watch the races online, visit www.csbk.ca.
Photo – Jodi Christie (1) leads Kenny Riedmann (42) and Will Hornblower (47) in Hindle Pro Sport Bike action at Shannonville Motorsports Park. Photo by Rob O’Brien.